The Biggest Disappointments of the 2024 College Football Season So Far

We're through seven weeks of the 2024 college football season.

As we near the halfway mark, there already are several teams that haven't lived up to their preseason expectations.

There have also been star players who have unfortunately suffered injuries this season.

Every college football team enters a given season with certain expectations based on the talent it has returning, what its schedule looks like, it coaching staff, etc.

So far this season, we've seen a number of teams perform worse than expected.

Simply put, this college football season so far has been filled with disappointments.

Let's run through the biggest in college football so far.

Let's be clearI am by no means suggesting that injuries are any player's fault, whatsoever.

And no one wants to see players get hurt.

That said, we've seen several star players go down.

Their injuries have been especially disappointing because of how well they were expected to play this year.

A couple of those injuries have been season-ending ones, too.

In Week 2, Wisconsin starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke tore his ACL against Alabama.

The former Miami signal-caller was hoping to have a big season in Badgers offensive coordinator Phil Longo's system.

LSU linebacker Harold Perkins Jr.

is also out for the season.

The Tigers pass-rusher was considered one of the most disruptive and dynamic defensive players in the country.

After starting the season with 11 total tackles and a forced fumble, Perkins tore his ACL in LSU's Week 4 game against UCLA.

2024 was expected to be Perkins' final season in Baton Rouge, as he is considered one of the top linebackers in the 2025 NFL Draft class.

Other players' seasons have been disrupted by nagging injuries.

Utah quarterback Cam Rising , who is playing in his sixth collegiate season and has suffered numerous injuries throughout his career, has had a frustrating season thus far.

He missed three games because of a finger injury and never looked quite himself in his first start back against Arizona State on Friday night.

Rising threw three interceptions in the Utes' 27-19 loss to the Sun Devils.

And lastly, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers missed two games because of an oblique injury.

In his first game back against Oklahoma on Saturday, Ewers went 20-of-29 for 199 yards with a touchdown and interception.

If the Longhorns want to play in the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff, Ewers staying healthy will be key.

But thus far, it's been disappointing to see him miss so much time.

It's pretty safe to say USC head coach Lincoln Riley is squarely on the hot seat now.

In his first two seasons, Riley failed to lead the Trojans to a Pac-12 title, and USC missed the playoff in consecutive years.

As the Trojans moved to the Big Ten, USC was expected to be a contender.

Riley also hired D'Anton Lynn as the team's new defensive coordinator.

But halfway through the season, the Trojans are 3-3, including back-to-back losses to unranked Minnesota and No.

4 Penn State over the past two weeks.

Despite the defense looking solid through the first two weeks, giving up 20 points to LSU and shutting out Utah State at home, USC is tied for 41st in scoring defense, giving up an average of 20.8 points per game.

The unit is 80th in rushing defense, 60th in total defense and 44th in passing defense.

The one bright spot might be USC's 27.14 percent opponent third-down conversion rate, which ranks sixth in the country.

USC has just one ranked team remaining on its schedule in No.

12 Notre Dame, which the Trojans play at home on Nov.

30.

A playoff bid is off the table for USC at this point, so the Trojans' best hope might be to win out and earn a spot in a high-level bowl game outside the CFP.

But with how USC has looked early, even that may not be all that plausible.

Riley was hired to turn USC into a conference and playoff contender, and he's failed on both fronts through three seasons.

We'll see if USC can rebound with a strong finish to the year to cool down his seat a bit.

Speaking of teams that haven't lived up to expectations, the Ole Miss Rebels have severely underperformed.

Expected to be a legitimate SEC and playoff contender entering the season, the Rebels are now 5-2, with a loss to unranked Kentucky and Saturday's 29-26 overtime loss to No.

8 LSU.

Ole Miss came into this season boasting one of the most talented rosters in the country, including quarterback Jaxson Dart, receiver Antwane Wells, Jr., running back Henry Parrish Jr.

and linebacker Suntarine Perkins on defense.

While the issues can't reasonably be attributed to any one specific player, the Rebels offense has struggled late in close games.

Plus, Ole Miss' two losses have both come in games where the Rebels were favored.

Against Kentucky, the Ole Miss offense stalled at the Wildcats' 31-yard line with under a minute left.

Rebels kicker Caden Davis then missed a 48-yard field goal that would have tied the game.

In overtime against LSU, Ole Miss' offense failed to find the end zone on its opening overtime possession.

Davis made a 57-yard field goal, but LSU countered with a touchdown on its OT possession to win the game.

Sure, two losses don't knock the Rebels out of the playoff just yet, but it makes their path a lot harder.

Ole Miss has just one remaining ranked opponent left on its schedule in No.

5 Georgia.

We'll see how the Rebels can bounce back from two tough losses following a bye next week before a home game against Oklahoma.

Despite losing quarterback Drake Maye to the NFL draft, UNC was expected to compete inside a relatively open ACC, along with Clemson and Miami.

The Tar Heels got off to a hot 3-0 start, but they have dropped their past four games to limp to 3-4 midway through the season.

UNC's first loss at home was a historic one.

The Tar Heels gave up 70 points to the Sun Belt's James Madison in a 70-50 loss.

The 53-point first-half points UNC's defense gave up represented the most in school history.

After the loss, UNC head coach Mack Brown reportedly told players in his locker room that he would retire if the team felt like they would do better without him.

But Brown kept coaching on.

Against Duke the next week, UNC gave up a 20-0 third-quarter lead and allowed the Blue Devils to come back and win 21-20.

Things didn't exactly improve in the weeks after that.

UNC lost 34-24 against Pitt in Week 6.

On Saturday against Georgia Tech, UNC tied the game at 34 with 44 seconds left.

UNC's defense then surrendered a 64-yard touchdown run to Jamal Haynes that gave Tech the 41-34 lead and the win.

It's no secret that this is probably Brown's final season in Chapel Hill.

The 73-year-old is one of the few active FBS head coaches who has a national title, so it's pretty wild to see his career and this season spiraling to such an unceremonious end.

UNC has remaining games against Virginia, Florida State, Wake Forest, Boston College and NC State.

This might be the most disappointing team of this whole group.

One season removed from a 13-1 finish, the Noles entered 2024 as the preseason favorite to win the ACC.

Despite losing most of his team from last season, Mike Norvell's squad was expected to be a legitimate playoff contender.

But FSU's first two games were surely a sign of things to come.

In Week Zero, the Noles lost 24-21 to Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.

Things didn't get much better during the Noles' home opener against Boston College, a game they lost 28-13.

To add insult to injury, former Noles running back Treshaun Ward, now playing for BC, had 138 total yards of offense, including a touchdown.

FSU's lone win on the season was a 14-9 victory over Cal at home in Week 5.

In its past two games, FSU has lost 42-16 to SMU and 29-13 against rival Clemson.

It doesn't look like there are too many opportunities left for wins, either, as FSU's remaining games include home tilts against North Carolina, Charleston Southern and Florida along with road trips to Duke, No.

6 Miami and No.

12 Notre Dame.

Florida State's last season with fewer than three wins came during a 1-10 campaign in 1974.

The Noles look to be on pace to finish close to that.

What's even worse is that starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei suffered a hand injury that required surgery earlier this month.

He is reportedly expected to will miss several weeks and could even miss the rest of the season.

His backup, Brock Glenn, went 23-of-41 for 228 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the loss to Clemson.

Kansas had a fantastic season last year, with its 9-4 record marking its best campaign since going 12-1 in 2007.

Entering 2024, Kansas ranked 33rd in ESPN's preseason SP+ returning production rankings, so the Jayhawks were expected to be in the mix in the new-look Big 12.

After a Week 1 win over Lindenwood, the Jayhawks were ranked 19th in the country.

But the Jayhawks have dropped five straight games to Illinois, UNLV, West Virginia, TCU and Arizona State.

Four of them have been decided by fewer than seven points, too.

Jayhawks starting quarterback Jalon Daniels has struggled significantly.

On the year, he's thrown for 1,065 yards with seven touchdowns and eight interceptions.

He's also taken seven sacks.

The back half of Kansas' schedule doesn't look particularly easy, either.

The Jayhawks have three ranked opponents left to play, including Kansas State, Iowa State and BYU.

Kansas' last two games come against Colorado and Baylor.

Although it took a while for Kansas head coach Lance Leipold to get this Jayhawks program turned around, he'll face another setback in 2024, as a losing season is looking likely.

This season was a big test for Alabama and first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer.

For the first time in decades, the Tide were playing without Nick Saban as their head coach.

Although Alabama started 4-0, including a thrilling 41-34 win over Georgia, the Tide hasn't played up to the Alabama standard.

For starters, Bama blew a 30-point halftime lead against the Bulldogs, and Georgia nearly pulled off the comeback.

In Week 2 against USF, it was a one-score game until midway through the fourth quarter.

Disaster struck in Week 6, as then-No.

1 Alabama lost on the road to unranked Vanderbilt.

The win marked the first for Vanderbilt over Alabama at home since 1976.

Per SportsRadar , the Commodores had lost all 60 games previously played against top-five teams.

Obviously, give a ton of credit to Clark Lea and his Vanderbilt team, but the loss was glaring, ugly, and simply put, embarrassing for a team like Alabama.

Hoping to rebound at home against South Carolina in Week 7, the Tide didn't do much to gain confidence from fans.

The Tide trailed at halftime, went down 19-14 in the third quarter, and had South Carolina's two-point conversion succeeded late in the fourth quarter, the game would have gone into overtime.

That doesn't exactly bode well for Alabama, which has the toughest part of its schedule ahead.

The upcoming gauntlet features a road trip to No.

11 Tennessee next week, No.

19 Missouri at home, at No.

8 LSU on Nov.

9 and at Oklahoma on Nov.

23.

We'll see if Alabama can play any better than it has early on in the season.

The Cowboys were expected to be a Big 12 contender in 2024 after playing in the Big 12 title game last season.

Oklahoma State returned the bulk of its offense from last year, too, including quarterback Alan Bowman, running back Ollie Gordon II and receiver Brennan Presley.

The Cowboys started the season on a good note, going 3-0 with wins over South Dakota State, an overtime win at home over Arkansas and a 45-10 win over Tulsa.

But since then, Oklahoma State has lost the last three straight against Utah, Kansas State and West Virginia, effectively putting the Cowboys out of the Big 12 race in early October.

Bowman has struggled significantly during the losing streak, throwing two interceptions in each of the three losses, with just three total touchdowns.

Oklahoma State's defense has been giving up massive amounts of yardage, ranking 130th in total defense and rushing and allowing 493.5 total yards per game, including 235 per contest on the ground.

There's a good chance this could be one of coach Mike Gundy's worst seasons in Stillwater.

Up until now, his worst one came in his first season at Oklahoma State, when the Cowboys finished 4-5.

Next up for Oklahoma State are games against BYU, Baylor, Arizona State, TCU, Texas Tech and Colorado..

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